Huntington, WV-The Cleveland State softball team fell in the second game of Thundering Herd March Madness, dropping an 18-4 five inning decision on Friday afternoon. 

The Vikings started out strong in the opening inning but could not contain Rider's offense the rest of the way. Rider used a 10-run fourth inning to pull away and open the floodgates.

The Rider offense started the game in a big way with four runs in the top of the first inning. Cleveland State responded with two in the bottom half to trim the deficit in half.

Jenna Deang led off with a walk, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Alexa Sieger followed with a single to score Deang for the first run of the game for the Vikings. Becky Hurosky followed with a single to put runners on first and second. After a strikeout, Meridith Rankl came through with a two-out RBI double to score Sieger for the second run of the inning.

Cleveland State added two more in the fifth inning on a Hurosky two-RBI double, but the Vikings could not bring any more runs across to keep the game going. 

Cleveland State is back in action tomorrow with two more games, first taking on Winthrop at 9 a.m. and then playing a re-match against Marshall at 11 a.m.